Small water hole, and 400ex smokes WHITE???

[nikejoe]

After I fixed my chain this weekend at lbl, we went back out riding. I was riding with a warrior and 3 honda utilities. So they were going through ALOT of mud and water. SO I was splashing through quite a bit of water. I got a run into one little water/mud hole and water splashed everywhere! My 400ex stalled! It was about 6" deep, but I hit it pretty fast. After letting it sit for a while, it refired and we took it back to camp it smoke pretty bad the whole way. Once back I took off the K&N and the carb boot, and the spark plug was smut black. There was a little bit of water inside the boot and at the intake of the carb. We let everything dry out over night and put a new spark plug back in it in the morning and the smoking continued. It seems to be white and at first it was only after you gave it alot of gas and let off. Kind of like the carb was loading up. We took it for one ride and the smoking seemed to come and go. But when it smoked it got worse. I got it home and am going to pull the carb off and see if I got something stuck in the jets. But it ran perfect before that water hole and has never smoked. The guys I was with kept saying at first it was the rings. But after the next morning they said it didn't smell like oil burning.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I will let you know what I find when I pull the carb off (hopefully tonight). But does it sound like I have screwed up something internally????:grr:

[beak7707]

You might have got water inside your motor. Whenever cars blow head gaskets and the motor burns water they smoke white. If it was the rings and it was burning oil it would be a bluish smoke, and of course smell like burning oil.

[quad]

Change your oil,might be water in it.

[xc400ex]

first of all drain the airbox and clean the filter....put dielectric grease around the spark plug boot...clean the carb the bowl more then likely has water/mud in it

[nikejoe]

Thanks for the replies! I did not get the carb pulled off tonight. But hopefully I will tomorrow! I will let you know what I find! Keep the ideas coming!!!:eek2:

[Bean]

if it stalled in the water, you either slightly hydrolocked it, causing a blow gasket, bent valves, blown rings, bent rod, etc, or you got water on the plug, causing it to shut down the spark, and you got something in the jets and needle seats causing this problem

The more I hear about those K and N filters letting crap into the carb the less I like them. I can see flat trackers on groomed tracks running them, but for us trail riders a nice layer of foam is the only way to go.;)

[JOEX]

Originally posted by golfman400ex
The more I hear about those K and N filters letting crap into the carb the less I like them. I can see flat trackers on groomed tracks running them, but for us trail riders a nice layer of foam is the only way to go.;)
Does one type of air filter work better than another while sucking up water?

I have soaked my stock foam air filter several times in water a lot deeper than six inches. Never (knock wood) has it let enough water through to stall my engine.:macho

[hondarider2006]

I was running an open lid with my k&n riding in the rain and going through plenty of water....never enough to hydolock my engine though, let alone make it stale out:eek2:

[nikejoe]

I pulled the carb off and tore it apart and cleaned it. Didn't find anything out of the ordinary. I put it back together and it smokes worse than before. WHITE smoke quickly filled my garage. I thought maybe I have my pipe full of water. I took off the exhaust and there was no water in it. So I started it up without the exhaust and let it run with just the header. No water sputtered out of it either. I don't know what else it could be. I checked the oil and it does look funny. It was changed about 5 hours ago so it was not that dirty and when I checked it after this happened it seemed fine now 2 days later it seems a little bit grey almost like their might be water in the oil. If that is so, why would that make it smoke. I'm out of ideas, do you guys have anymore???? :confused:

[hondarider2006]

Change your oil and see what happens;)

[nikejoe]

I will change the oil, but why would that make it smoke?????
I will get the stuff to change oil tomorrow. Thanks

mine does that too. i think i fixed it today. try turning ur air fuel screw in some and see if that helps. it helped mine and it was total white smoke it filled up the woods beside me pretty fast but it was kinda cool. Felt like a 2 stroke. :blah:

[nikejoe]

Okay, I changed my oil. It was weird medium grey in color, and felt funny. After seeing this I decided to splash a little clean oil though the system, basically flush out anything left before I put the new filter in. So I put the filter in and filled it back up. Fired it off and it smokes worse than before. It stinks, it is still white, not quite as white as when a car blows a head gasket, but not blue at all. White to VERY light gray! I don't have anymore ideas. I am wondering if its the rings, but things just are not adding up???
DOES ANYONE have any other ideas. I don't want to tear into my engine for new rings and that not be the problem! HELP!!!???:(

if it smokes constilany it might be ur vavle seals.

[Fitzy]

when you give it gas does it respond or bogg down?

[hondarider2006]

Originally posted by Jingle
if it smokes constilany it might be ur vavle seals.

My friends valve seals are going out in his 400 and it smokes for about 5 minutes when he first starts it up. Do you take it for a ride, or do you just start it up and than just see what happens?

[nikejoe]

No it responds okay when you rev it. It is not all the way warmed up yet, but it does rev up and kind of sputters sometimes but mainly like it does when it is not warmed up all the way. It smokes constantly and when you rev it, it gets alot worse. Also after you shut it off it still has smoke rolling out of the exhaust for about 20-30seconds. I am doing all this in my tiny tight 2-car garage, and I get smoked out pretty quick even with the doors open. I am not taking it on rides. I live in a metropolitan subdivision. The neighbors already ***** about the noise. I can't ride it on the street. So with this info any other ideas. How can I tell if it is valve seals. THe thing that gets me is it's ran perfect right up until the water. It's never smoked or anything now CHITTY!!!! Keep the ideas coming!:confused:

dude mine does the same exact thing but it goes away after about 2 minutes. But when i shut it off smoke still comes outa the exhaust

[Fitzy]

try calling a local atv shop that knows what they're doing and get their advice

[jonc623]

the grey oil is because of WATER and changing the oil one time WILL NOT get it all out sart it up let it warm up at an idle and change the oil again you will see that the oil is grey again but not as bad it should clear up i doubt if you hydroed the motor since you rode it again that day hydro damage is a bad deal and breaks parts big time so try a few more oil changes and see what happens cheapest way out if it does fix it

[hondafox440]

White smoke = burning oil. May want to take a peak at your valve seats and piston rings..

[Juggalo]

check your compression. then drop a few drops of oil in your cylinder and check it again. if it goes up your rings are prob bad. i'm guessing its your rings.

[big-guy]

white smoke on a cold motor is normal. it's just water vapor in the air. it should stop after a couple minutes.

white smoke = water
blue smoke = oil
black smoke = fuel

if you've changed the oil and it doesn't look milky or brown anymore, just go ride for a few minutes and see if it doesn't clear up.

[hondarider2006]

Try bringing it some where so you can actualy ride it and get it nice and warm. If the valve seals are going out, than it will smoke for a little bit when its cold.

[400exdad]

I'd change the oil a few more times and see what happens. Like someone else said, its the cheapest solution. However, IMHO, another area you could check would be the crankcase ventilation system. You've got the small "reservoir" on the side of the airboot and you may look to see if there is a low spot in the hose that is holding some water. That would pull moisture into engine. Here's something else.... :) brainstorm :) ... There is a lot of places water could hide and become a vapor with a little bit of heat. Try removing the "reservoir" from the air boot and see what happens. I have a funny feeling the white smoke will dissappear and indicate there is still water in the motor. Good Luck!

[Wayne64SS]

if it is smoking *white* and not blue it is definitely water somewhere. if your oil was milky brown you got quite a bit of water in there make sure you change your oil untill the milky stuff goes away (do it when the motor is warm) water and engine bearings dont liek each other :cool: ;) then take apart all your inlet assemblies like your air tube, pcv if you have it ... anywhere water could get trapped and be sucked into the engine...... you WILL find water somewhere. trust me this will work!

[nikejoe]

Thanks for all the replies! I am going to take it to my parents house this weekend. At least there I can ride it and work on it to see where I get with it. I will also check the compression. If it's ok then that should eliminate all the talk of rings. I have had everything apart on the intake and have found no water. I think if compression checks out, we will bee looking at the valves. Any other ideas? Keep posting, and I will hopefully update you on Sunday night or Monday! Thanks Again! :eek2: